Batman and Wonder Woman enter their first battle after beginning their secret relationship. Can it survive? Not necessary to have seen the episode A Better World. BMWW. Follows A Girl's Best Friend and Duty Calls.

The
title of this story comes from a line in "A Better World" where
Justice Lord GL says, "It only takes one spark to start a fire."
Of course, he's referring to a protest – a take on the one voice
in the darkness theme. But this story is about the heat of battle
and the spark between Batman and Wonder Woman during the episode "A
Better World."

Disclaimer:
I own nothing. Holds true for all following chapters.

Let
me know what you think of the new story – review, review, review!
I know that you're out there, reading it, so I would really
appreciate the comments, critical or positive. It only takes a
second, I promise.

I'm
sorry that I had to interrupt their first date – I didn't want to
either! But that's just another aspect of their lives and a
perfect lead-in to this episode/story. And don't worry; there will
be a combination of action and sweet stuff in this story!

Again,
the –VvV- means that the perspective is changing from Bruce to
Diana, etc…

One
Spark, Chapter 1, One Thing Leads to Another, by The Fixx

Diana's
perspective…

I'm
not sure that I had realized exactly what I had been getting into
when I embarked upon a secret relationship with Bruce Wayne, known to
the superhero community as the Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham, an
urban legend whose name makes ordinary men quake. But to me, he was
now simply Bruce, a man who had shown me an afternoon of magical
proportions, a first date the like of which I could not have imagined
in my wildest dreams.

Of
course, I had understood that Bruce and I were not just two ordinary
people, two average citizens becoming involved – dating, starting a
relationship, and falling in love. I had known that none of these
things would come easily to either of us; we simply weren't those
kinds of people. For us, the simple was magnified into the
impossible, merely because we were supposed to be heroes.

I
accepted that the life I had chosen was one with exactly no private
time, nothing but stolen moments for a relationship between battles,
work, and monitor duty. And although this was the life that I
wanted, had always wanted, there were moments, like now, where I
simply wanted to pound something out of frustration due to the lack
of available and decent timing.

Fortunately,
the thick of battle I was soon to be in was a great place to release
my excess anger at the abrupt ending to such a perfect first date;
Lex Luthor a perfect target.

By
no means would I have written off my first date with Batman as a
disaster simply due to poor timing on the part of one of the League's
greatest foes, but I will admit that the conclusion of our outing had
forced me to consider something I had not before – the single
biggest difficulty of a work relationship with my type of work was
work!

The
schedule for a Justice League member, or a vigilante such as Batman,
is not a regulated one – there are no set hours, no paid holidays,
and no escaping – there always seems to be a villain, a plot, a
curse, something. My time in Paris had been a necessary vacation,
but even a short holiday was foiled by Vandal Savage, intent on
supreme power and world domination.

Around
every turn, there seemed to be some sort of evil plan, as if the
villains knew of the budding relationship between Batman and myself
and were intent on disrupting our contentment. Our work had brought
us together and now, our work forced us apart.

I
looked around my room on the Watchtower, taking just a second to peer
into the small mirror perched on the wall. I rarely found a use for
a looking glass, but today, I wanted to see myself, to see if the
fact that I was falling in love shown clearly on my face. Staring
back at my likeness, I was unsure – the same Diana was still etched
in the glass, perhaps the differences were simply on the inside, in
the beat of my heart, the tenor of my thoughts, and the fleeting wish
that today could have ended differently.

But
now was not the time for reflection, physical or otherwise.

It
was time to fight and I was determined that I would emerge victorious
at least once today.

Garbed
in full Wonder Woman regalia, I headed for the javelin where the
majority of my teammates were awaiting my arrival, anxious to stop
Luthor in his tracks.

-VvV-

While
the day had not been a complete disaster by my standards, I couldn't
exactly qualify the outing as a rousing success. Although, really,
by Bruce Wayne standards, any date not ending in a hard slap to the
face or angry tears should automatically qualify as having the
potential of being the best date ever. But, going simply by Bruce's
standards, the day had been…special. The surprise that
Alfred had prepared had literally left me speechless and Diana
breathless. The man had truly gone above and beyond in order to give
Diana and myself a day of simple pleasures and utter perfection. The
entire day had combined to prove to myself that perhaps a
relationship between Diana and I was actually a feasible idea. The
two of us had much in common – both loving reading and music; we
enjoyed the outdoors, even if we rarely had the opportunity to
actually get out in it; and we obviously cared rather deeply for one
another, even to the point where we had unofficially partnered off
within the League.

Similarly,
we each had dominant personalities, something to consider for the
future. Each of us had been labeled stubborn by our other teammates
with good reason and I knew that Diana and I would at some point
again be going toe to toe with one another, each trying to prove that
our point was the best or strongest. Today, the thought of Diana
stubbornly standing against me was a sweet one and a pictorial memory
worth keeping. I admired her strength and the fact that she was one
of very few to argue with me about anything, ever. And she had
disagreed with me before, with varying results. I was looking
forward to seeing Diana in high temper again, stubbornly fighting for
a cause that she believed in.

Today
had shown me that simplicity was the key to Diana and the key to our
relationship together - just being ourselves, without all of the
elaborate masks and falsehoods that surrounded us, keeping our lives
together as simple as possible so that the complications stemmed from
work, in whatever form. Right now, simplicity was all about soft
kisses, sweet words, and knowing that at any given moment, this was
the person you wanted to share that moment with. And I was
determined not to be my usual mulish, arrogant, pessimistic self –
but I knew that the gallant knight routine would not last forever.
However, I also had no doubt that Diana had seen me at the peak of
each of these traits and had still consented to attempt a
relationship with me.

All
in all, I still couldn't believe how successful the day had been,
the emergency call from J'onn notwithstanding.

And
soon, Diana and I would face another test – actually two: a test to
prove that our relationship was strong enough to deal with our lives
as superheroes, and that we were serious about keeping our
relationship only between ourselves.

Our
first trial by fire would involve the infamous Lex Luthor –
Superman's nemesis – and general bane of the Justice League's
existence. Donning my Bat-suit, I sprinted for the Batmobile,
knowing that I might later need my own form of personal
transportation to return to Gotham for evening patrols. I headed out
of the cave, ready to face the fire.

-VvV-

Once
we had determined Luthor's location, we went in with figurative
guns blazing. Stealth seemed less imperative than stopping the
ingenious criminal, intent on yet another theft.

Armed
in his jet-pack battle suit, he constantly evaded our pursuit, all
the while shooting out pulsing rays of electromagnetic power.
Dodging one of the rays he aimed at me, I instead looked for another
route by which to defeat Luthor – or at least keep him in one place
- and discovered a large, loose chunk of granite, presumably from
where one of the deflections of Luthor's beams had caused serious
damage to the structure we were in. Lifting the stone, I hefted it
towards Luthor, who narrowly managed to escape the block before
aiming another harmful beam in my direction. Quickly crossing my
arms in front of my face, I blocked the ray using my bracelets before
diving, hoping to distract the villain while simultaneously allowing
Superman full frontal access to Luthor, knowing he was more than
capable of stopping his archenemy.

Luthor
took off away from our confrontation, racing down the open room with
Flash giving chase. The villain was stalled by Hawkgirl, attacking
him with her mace, but he easily fended her off while quickly
turning, pinning Superman in one of his beams, before again
continuing his flight.

My
face set in full battle mode, without further hesitation, I followed
Luthor, noticing that Green Lantern was tracking our flight pattern
as well. Pulling up beside me, mid-air, he beamed the light of the
Green Lantern at the ceiling just in front of Luthor, hoping to
collapse some of the piping suspended from the ceiling and end the
pursuit with Luthor on the ground. Instead, the pipe exploded just
beside Luthor and the villain continued down the room, constantly
glancing over his shoulder to ensure that we still far enough behind.
After only a few moments, he continued flying, but turned himself
around in the air, blasting the ceiling right in front of John and
me. Trapped beneath the dust and debris, I tried not to breathe as I
shoved my way out of the rubble left by the ceiling.

It
seemed that all of our efforts to capture Luthor had thus far been
futile – Flash was ahead of me on the floor, trapped underneath a
large container and Hawkgirl's attempt to use her mace as a missile
had resulted in absolutely nothing. Luthor was still free, intent on
eluding us at all costs. Noticing Superman helping Flash out of his
predicament, I dove into the air, pursuing our foe to the end of the
corridor and down a small set of stairs just behind Batman and
Hawkgirl. A blur of scarlet sped by – the Flash, obviously still
in ready and able condition, speeding down to Luthor's current
whereabouts. Entering the room, I saw that Flash had already
dismantled the weapon that Luthor had been after, knocking him to the
side of the room with a quick punch. I quickly unleashed my lasso,
wrapping the noose tightly around his waist, pulling him towards me
in one strong motion, and securing him for the moment.

From
his subordinate position, lying on the ground, he looked up at me
with contempt in his eye and reason in his words – "Watch. I'll
be out in days."

I
looked down at the figure refusing to cower in defeat, irritated by
his demeanor and his words that I knew were true, at least to some
extent. Glaring at him, I raised my clenched fist to shoulder level,
determined change his gloating into something a little more fearful.

"Not
with a broken leg you won't." His eyes met mine and still, they
were filled with hatred, mocking me with the knowledge that his
capture was only temporary, that this monster would again haunt the
streets within days, if not hours. But still, I smiled a little to
myself; not wanting him to know that I was irritated by his
triumphant attitude and content that Luthor would find himself behind
bars and serving justice for his crimes for some amount of time
today.

I
looked over to see Bruce staring at me, unsure if he disliked my
statement to Luthor or if he understood the feeling of futility that
I often felt at moments like this. I could hear the voices of Flash
and Superman, but I paid no attention to them, transfixed, with my
eyes on Bruce's. We had survived our first major League conflict
since the inception of our relationship and I was pleased to see that
neither of us had paid undue attention to the other in battle, each
fending for ourselves and for the team as a whole. I gave him a
little smile, turning to watch as Flash raced around the room,
returning it to its original condition.

Feeling
inordinately pleased with both myself and with Bruce, I relaxed,
letting the tension ease out of my shoulders. Until a strange noise
and a green glowing light caught my attention…

Anybody
else notice that there's definitely something between the
Lords' Batman and Wonder Woman? Or is it just wishful thinking
on my part? ;

What
do you think – should they tell anyone? If so, who?

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